90 Calorie Great Value Blueberry Cereal Bar

I am always on the lookout for new snack ideas and the other day I found a great one in the cereal aisle. I was in my local Walmart buying groceries and doing a lot of label reading when I discovered a box of 90 Calorie Great Value Blueberry Cereal Bars. They were nearly a dollar cheaper than the name brands on the shelf so that immediately caught my eye. I put a box in my cart and continued on my way.

I have to say I was not expecting much as I haven't found very much in the generic diet food section that was very good. These however are an exception. They are delicious. They are really sweet and tasty. I have been using them as a candy bar substitute. Plus, they are only 1 Point Per Bar, yahoo!

So far I have been to two of the three Walmarts near me and blueberry is the only flavor I have found. I did find a strawberry flavor on the Walmart website so hopefully they will make their way to my local stores. The pertinent nutritional information breaks down this way, 90 Calories 1.5 Fat Grams and 3 Grams of fiber for a total of 1 Weight Watchers Points.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait... C: wait... SD: wait...

Orville Redenbacher's Smart Cakes

It always helps me to get back in the groove when I find good snack food that fits into my diet. This weekend I got reacquainted with my old friend the rice or corn cakes. These puffy, crunchy little snacks are very versatile. There are numerous flavors and brands to choose from so check out a few and find your favorite.

One of my favorites is the Orville Redenbacher's Smart Cake in the Caramel flavor. Each cake is only forty-five calories and if you are on Weight Watchers each cake is only a point.

Serving Size 1 Cake
Calories 45
Fat Grams 0
Fiber 0
Weight Watchers Points 1

As I mentioned above these cakes are very versatile. You can either toast them or heat them in the microwave. The toaster or oven is best as they seem to be lighter and crunchier. You can top them with many different things to add flavor and pizazz to your snack.

My favorite topping is a tablespoon of peanut butter with some banana slices on top. I have also had them with marshmallows on top. Sometimes I even eat them right out of the bag.

So the next time you are looking for a snack give the old rice or corn cake another look.

Lean Cuisine Grilled Chicken Caesar

I think we may have a new favorite to add to the menu. I tried the Grilled Chicken Caesar bowl from the Café Classics Bowl entrees and it was outstanding. I am pretty picky when it comes to anything called Caesar; I normally either love it or hate it.

This meal contains grilled white meat chicken in a parmesan-Caesar sauce with broccoli and garlic flavored radiatore pasta. Everything about the meal was a hit. I need to find those little pasta shells at my grocery, I liked how they held the sauce. The chicken tasted like it was actually grilled and the Caesar sauce was top notch. It was like getting something to go from an actual Italian restaurant.

I highly recommend going out and getting this one today.

The Specs

230 Calories 6 Grams of Fat 3 Grams of Fiber

Weight Watchers Points 5

Lean Cuisine Alfredo Pasta with Chicken & Broccoli

Todays lunch selection turned out very tasty. It is another One Dish Favorites from Lean Cuisine. I would highly recommend this one to anyone that likes Alfredo and Broccoli. This one makes it into my favorites section.

I will reduce the cooking time just a bit next time as one corner of the pan was a tad overcooked. The diced chicken had a great flavor and the Alfredo sauce was creamy and good. The broccoli came out just right. The pasta for the most parts was tender except for the little section that overheated.

The Specs

270 Calories 6 Grams of Fat 3 Grams of Fiber

Weight Watchers Points 5

Hostess 100 Calorie Cup Cakes

I know these have been written about all over the blogosphere but I just found the Carrot Cake version a couple of days ago. I think they are one of my new favorites to throw in with my lunch. They actually taste like a slice of carrot cake. I also like the chocolate and vanilla flavors but the carrot cake seems more decadent. At two points per pack they fit very well in my Weight Watchers program.

The drawback for me is the price of these little cakes have gone up to $3 a box now. That seems a little steep to me, but if you are patient you can catch them on sale. If you haven't tried them yet go out and get yourself a box of Hostess 100 Calorie Packs CupCakes.

Say Hello to an Old Friend

I am kind of misleading you with the title a bit but I am feeling a little mischievous as I write this post. This past week I had the pleasure of enjoying something I have not had in a long time. Especially since I have been dieting because I really liked lathering this friend up with butter and sugar. Okay get your mind out of the gutter. The friend I am speaking of is the often forgotten Acorn Squash.

Yep its just a squash, but this is a blog about food after all. I could make a meal on just these squash baked up with lots of butter and some sugar sprinkled on top. I had thought about trying to prepare them in a low fat version but just hadn’t done it until now. They are so simple to make and very good indeed. You just slice them in half, clean out the cores and put them on a baking sheet. They need to bake for about an hour at around 350 degrees. When they are done just take them out and squeeze a little Smart Squeeze or your favorite nonfat margarine substitute on them and then sprinkle with Splenda.

They were fabulous if I do say so myself. If you are tired of just the same old vegetable choices say hello to a friend of mine, the Acorn Squash.

Weight Watchers Smart Ones Strawberry Shortcake

When you are looking for a dessert selection that you can fit into your diet plan give the Smart Ones Strawberry Shortcake a shot. Tucked away in your grocer’s freezer section this flavorful dessert is a nice way to finish a low calorie meal. It’s so easy too you just take it out of the freezer and let it thaw. I prefer to eat mine while still a little hard, I like the semi frozen grainy strawberry topping.

The Specs 170 Calories 6 Grams of Fat 1 Gram of Fiber

Points 4

Healthy Choice Low Fat Franks

Its time for those great cook outs with all the trimmings as we approach the Fourth of July holiday. It can be really tough to make good food choices while everyone else is chomping down on beef ribs, cheeseburgers and brisket. Everyone knows that chicken is a healthy meat especially when grilled, but what do you do when you want a good ole hot dog?

Healthy Choice has a solution for you. Look in your grocers refrigerated case next to all of the other juicy fat hot dogs for these lower fat and calorie hot dogs. Each frank, wiener, hot dog or what ever you like to call them has 70 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. Each frank is only two points on Weight Watchers.

Now I am not going to lie to you and tell you that they are fabulous but I will tell you they are an adequate replacement for the real thing. When cooking mine on the grill I baste them with a little barbeque sauce. If I feel like chili dogs then you can cook them in some turkey chili to help with your fat and calorie intake. There are many fat free condiments you can add to give them some additional flavor. If you are lucky you can even find some one point hot dog buns. If you feel like beans and franks then these are for you.

I would prefer to have an all beef hot dog or even a local favorite, Earl Campbell Hot Links but you know I am trying to lose some weight here. Have a great holiday no matter where you live.

Wendy’s Chili – Fast Food and Fiber

There are times when you just have to make a stop at a fast food restaurant due to the busy schedules we all seem to have. Maintaining good food choices can be tough when you turn to fast food for lunch. Luckily for me right between two of my offices is a Wendy’s. I am not a big Wendy’s fan but they do have one menu item that fits very well into my diet.

Wendy’s chili is both tasty and Weight Watchers points effective. A small chili is only four points while the large is 6.5 points. Those figures are without the optional cheese that they will offer you. I also do not eat the crackers they give you either. The small chili which is about eight ounces has five grams of fiber.

The next time you are going to succumb to a cheeseburger just because you are busy give the Wendy’s chili a try.

Quick and Easy Pineapple Angel Food Cake

I have been experimenting with different cake recipes to try to add a little more sweet and less fat to my diet. After the post I made about making cakes with diet soft drinks I received this idea from Andrea via comments. Thanks Andrea it was very good.

This one is just as easy as the diet soft drink cake. All you need is a boxed Angel Food cake mix and a regular sized can of crushed pineapples. For my cake I found a Pillsbury cake mix and Dole crushed pineapples. The directions on the box called for water to be added to the mix. I replaced the water with the can of crushed pineapples. I used the entire can juice and all.

I baked it in a Pampered Chef bundt stone according to the cooking directions on the box. It turned out just right. You can get creative with toppings or you can just slice it and eat it. I did not add anything to mine.

As for the implications for your diet, the good news it is a non fat food. But, it still came out to 3.5 points per slice with the cake cut into twelve pieces. I would have liked to have gotten the points down under three but it just didn’t make it. It is very good though and worth being added to my recipe box.

Did Someone Say Cake?

This may be an oldie for some of you but it is definitely a goody. A while back a friend of ours shared this after one of her Weight Watchers meetings. It is really simple and quite good to boot.

The first time my wife made this for me I thought she was off her rocker. But it is really pretty good. First of all who doesn’t like cake? But, when you are on a diet, cake is one of the things we try to avoid. This quick and simple recipe just may help you put more cake back into your diet.

You only need two ingredients to make this cake. One is a diet soft drink and the other is a packaged cake mix. Even though the box will call for eggs, oil and water you just use the soft drink instead. I would check all of the labels of the cake mixes looking for the one with the lowest fat and calories. Depending on the cake mix you select will determine what kind of diet soft drink to use. For example if you pick a chocolate cake mix you can use Diet Coke. When making a white or yellow cake mix you need to use a Diet 7Up or Diet Sprite. When baking your normal sized cake from Betty Crocker, Pillsbury or Duncan Hines for examples you will use twelve ounces of soft drink to one box of cake mix. For me it’s hard sometimes to find 12 ounce cans of soft drinks so I have to buy a 20 ounce bottle and just measure 12 ounces. Bake the cake as per the instructions on the package and you are done.

Some of the tasty things you can do with this recipe are to get a white or vanilla cake mix and bake as cupcakes. Then you can add some low calorie whipped topping and the fruit of your choice and you have yourself a great dessert. I have heard suggestions like mixing low calorie Cool Whip with sugar free cocoa mix to make a cake icing but I haven’t tried that yet.

Let us know if you have tried this recipe and if you have come up with great ways to top it off.

Shrimp Stir Fry from Gourmet Dining

I purchased some new frozen entrees at the grocery store the other day. One of them is from Gourmet Dining distributed by Gourmet Express out of San Antonio, Texas. I have no idea how wide these are distributed. You may want to check out your local grocer for comparable brands and selection.

This particular meal comes with shrimp, Lo Mein noodles, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms and Teriyaki sauce. By the way it is also contains no added MSG’s. I prepared it according to the package instructions. Start to finish it only took about 15 minutes.

The pertinent nutritional information per serving is as follows:

Serving Size 7 oz. with 3.5 servings total
Calories 160
Fat 0
Fiber 3 grams

Weight Watchers Points 3 per serving or 10.5 points for the entire package

In previous years of dieting I had tried several frozen meals like this one and they were quite good. However, this offering was outstanding! The noodles were perfectly tender but not mushy. The vegetables were crisp and the shrimp was delicious. There was just the right amount of sauce to give it a great taste but without drowning it.

I will be heading back to the store for more of these. I really like this kind of food but it is not something I normally cook. So, thanks to the folks at Gourmet Express for making this one easy to prepare.

Make You Own Ice Cream Sandwiches

Everybody likes ice cream, well most everybody. With summer approaching I thought it was a good time to pass along this recipe for Ice Cream Sandwiches. I try to keep several of these in the freezer at all times. They make a great snack and you only need two ingredients to make them. Well, three if you count the plastic wrap.

1. Graham Crackers – Read the labels and try to get the ones that will count the least points.
2. Frozen Whipped Topping- Again read the labels as you can get fat free, sugar free or light.

First of all you want to set the whipped topping out to thaw some. I normally just put it in the fridge for a while. I put about two and a half tablespoons of whipped topping on one of the graham crackers (two of the four rectangles) and put the other cracker on top like a smore. Then you just wrap it up in the plastic wrap and place in the freezer.

My sandwiches that I just made tonight came out to 1.5 points. Depending on the nutritional information of your ingredients your points may be more or less.

Low Fat Pepperoni Pizza

Points 4.3 per slice

One of the things I have missed the most while dieting is Pizza. I have been watching what I eat for the last eight weeks plus. In that time I have not had two of my favorite kinds of food, Pizza and Chinese food. I have had the occasional frozen Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers offerings, but I haven’t had the real thing. Now I say I haven’t had Pizza because I am talking about regular high fat and cheesy Pizza.

To help me stay on my program I have looked around for recipes to reduce the calories and fat in my favorite foods. I have made this low fat Pizza about three times now and it has been satisfying every time. When you are shopping for the ingredients pay close attention to the nutritional information. For example some of the sauces you can select are very low in calories and fat. The dough is where most of the points come from so compare your dough choices to reduce the points from the crust. You can also experiment with the meats, I have used Turkey Pepperoni to prepare mine I am going to try a grilled chicken some time soon. If you are selecting one of the prepared chicken products be sure to read the label. Some of the prepared chicken products are higher in fat and calories.

Ingredients:

Pillsbury Classic Pizza Crust – you will find it in the refrigerated case
34 Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Slices
½ Cup of Fat Free Mozzarella Cheese
¼ Cup of Fat Free Cheddar Cheese
1 Cup of Pizza, Spaghetti or Pasta Sauce – I use Hunts Garlic and Herb Spaghetti Sauce it is lower in calories and fat than the other options at my grocer.
Italian Seasoning to Taste

Prepare the crust per the package instructions. The Pillsbury Pizza Crust I used has to be cooked for six minutes before you add the toppings. Spread the sauce, cheese and seasonings evenly before adding your meat. You can also add your favorite vegetables like mushrooms, peppers, onions ect. Finish baking the pizza per the instructions from the crust. I use a Pampered Chef stone to cook my pizza so the crust comes out just right. You may want to adjust the cooking time depending on how you like your crust.

Using the brands and portions I have listed above when you cut the pizza in six slices it comes to 4.3 points per slice with three of the points coming just from the crust. If you find a crust that is lower in points please let me know, I would love to get the points down a little more.

Enjoy.

South Beach Diet Wrap Sandwich Kit – Deli Ham & Turkey

The Specs 220 Calories Fat 10 grams Fiber 15 grams


– Two wheat Tortillas
– One serving Oscar Mayer Roasted Turkey Breast
– One serving Oscar Mayer Ham
– One serving Kraft 2% shredded cheddar cheese
– One packet of Grey Poupon deli mustard
– One serving of Jell-O sugar free cherry gelatin

Points 4

This is a wonderful lunch for those of us trying to loose weight.
I really like this item for its taste, price and point benefit. What I mean by point benefit is the point to satisfaction ratio is good. Also, its mobility, sometimes I stop at the nearest grocery and eat it in my truck.

This entrée definitely makes it into my lunchbox.

My Favorite Things- Muffins

One of the tough things for me when I am dieting is missing out on bread products. One of the things that I love to eat for breakfast is muffins. One day while walking through Wal Mart I found some muffins that are perfect for my diet and they taste great.

They are called Uncle Wally's Smart Portion Muffins. I have only found these at Wal Mart Supercenters. Each box contains 4 twin packs. The muffins are available in blueberry, banana and cranberry apple. They are very moist and tasty. The pertinent dietary numbers are calories 140, fat 1 gram and 3 grams of fiber. That means they come out to only (2) points if you are following the Weight Watchers program.

If you like muffins you will like these. The only thing I wish they would change is I would like to have more flavor choices. These are on my "must have" grocery list.